Event part of a statewide tour

Annette Gary, Associate CEO for Program Operations, calls upon each small group to share what was talked about during the Mental Health and Substance Abuse community conversation on Thursday. (Brendan Bilbo/AJ Media)

Lee Crosby’s son showed the symptoms, but with virtually nowhere to turn for advice, she wrote it off as sibling rivalry between her son and his older twin sisters.

As her son grew older, his tantrums got worse, giving Crosby more evidence that something wasn’t right.

“I did notice he was easily angered and showed signs of violence at a very young age,” she said. “My inexperience and no support system and no wiser adults to pull from had me thinking this was all normal behavior or just simple sibling rivalry. After all, my three babies were only 18 months apart.”

It wasn’t until his third suicide attempt that Crosby learned her son had schizophrenia, and even knowing that, she couldn’t find local resources to help their family.

On Thursday morning, Crosby joined three others to participate in a panel organized by the Texas Department of State Health Services for the Speak Your Mind Texas campaign to raise statewide awareness of mental health.

Lubbock was the eighth stop in the 16-city tour.

“The Speak Your Mind Texas campaign is an effort by the Texas Department of State Health Services to really start a discussion about some of those mental health services,” said Deborah Evans, deputy regional director for health services region one with the DSHS. “…Really we’re wanting folks to understand mental illness, reduce its stigma and to reduce barriers to treatment, particularly among teens and young adults.”

Approximately 75 percent of mental health and substance abuse issues start before age 24, and about half of that total starts before a person turns 14 years old, Evans said.

“That’s a significant number of individuals within a community,” she said. “The focus is to get help early on and to be able to engage the community, get them to recognize the issue and to respond.”

Schizophrenia is a disabling brain disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health website. People with the disorder often display symptoms including hallucination, delusions, agitated repetitive motions or long periods of no movement at all, and other symptoms.

Crosby said she wonders if her son would get more support if he had any other disease.

When her son got into junior high, Crosby noticed his grades fell, his attitude changed and he skipped school more often.

She sent her son to live with his biological father in Wyoming.

“I was desperate,” she said. “I hoped maybe the drastic change and getting to know his actual father would be what he needed.”

Her son was with his father six months before returning home.

Throughout his stay, he smoked cigarettes and began experimenting with drugs, she said.

Crosby’s son later tried to kill himself.

He spent a few days in a hospital before being sent home and referred to the psychiatric department at Texas Tech University, Crosby said.

“Until he had another episode,” she said. “This was the worst yet. He started hallucinating first.”

He was committed again, taken off his usual medications and returned home. Nothing changed, including the fact that Crosby had nowhere to turn.

Cathy Pope, CEO of StarCare Specialty Health Systems, said there’s a stigma about mental health conversation in West Texas. People don’t like to discuss it, Pope said.

The DSHS hopes to overcome that sigma with the campaign, Evans said.

“The Legislature has increased funding by about $300 million over the next two budget years,” she said. “Those funds are going to enable us to hit the communities in the state of Texas with the Speak Your Mind campaign.”

During the small group summary discussion of the event, group leaders spoke out about how Lubbock can increase mental health resources.

Suggestions such as mental health first aid training for teachers, rallying local and state representatives and mental health education for children were expressed as well as compiling lists of resources and keeping connections for mental health clients.

“We have to pull together,” Pope said.

The community should have an emergency mental health care center to visit by Sept. 1, adding an additional resource for area patients, she said.

Evans said the Lubbock event had 103 people in attendance.

During the final address for the event, Pope suggested gathering group members for another meeting in the future to continue the conversation.

“This city is too big not to have a support system,” Crosby said. “I’m here to say ‘change it.’ ”